>>202791It's mostly a victim of circumstance. Both fanbases thought they got bait & switched when what really happened was IntSys and Atlus weren't satisfied with earlier concepts and decided on a 3rd way. That plus the idol angle not appealing to Western audiences and being a radical departure from both series.
You have to get through all those roadblocks to get a fan to the point of trying it to see if it's good or not